Composer Robert Paterson Celebrates 50Th Birthday with Premieres and a New Album the Four Seasons – out April 24
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
FEBRUARY 19, 2020 CONTACT: STUART WOLFERMAN [email protected] 718-938-7679 Composer Robert Paterson celebrates 50th birthday with premieres and a new album The Four Seasons – Out April 24 This spring, the composer enjoys three Carnegie Hall performances, including two world premieres, and the culmination of his 20-year-long “Four Seasons” project. Spring 2020 marks a particularly busy and celebratory period for composer Robert Paterson. Called a “modern day master” by the New York Times, Paterson’s String Quartet No. 3 will be premiered at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall on March 5 by the Indianapolis String Quartet. On April 17, he celebrates his 50th birthday and the release of his 21-song Four Seasons project (out April 24 on Paterson’s American Modern Recordings). On May 6, the Oratorio Society of New York, under Kent Tritle, will perform Paterson’s Whitman’s America. Paterson’s ability to set text has been widely praised, with Gramophone stating that he “could probably set a telephone book to music and create something that captivates.” In The Four Seasons the composer has set the poems of Ann Stanford, Sharan Strange, Wallace Stevens, keep reading Dorothea Tanning, to name a few. The world premiere recording consists of four song-cycles (21 songs), written over the last 20 years, for four voice types (each representing a different season). The four singers on the album are soprano Marnie Breckenridge, mezzo-soprano Blythe Gaissert, tenor Alok Kumar, and bass-baritone David Neal. In 2014, the six Winter Songs were released as part of a broader collection. The New York Times described the song-cycle as a “beautiful, witty and sometimes utterly desolate collection of vocal works,” and Audiophile Audition’s Steven Ritter proclaimed “few cycles I have heard describe the season in all its vicissitudes as deeply.” Robert Paterson’s work has been performed by major American orchestras, named to many top-ten lists including NPR and Opera News, and earned him Composer of the Year honors from the Classical Recording Foundation. Paterson describes the culmination of the Four Seasons project: “Having all four seasons on one album, and premiered together at Carnegie Hall, has been a dream of mine for the past 20 years, and it feels cathartic—like climbing a huge mountain and finally reaching the top.” UPCOMING CONCERTS March 5 The Indianapolis Quartet @ Weill Hall, Carnegie Hall [info] The quartet makes its NYC debut with a program featuring the premiere of Robert Paterson’s String Quartet No. 3. March 20 & 22 New Amsterdam Singers @ Theater at St. Jean Baptiste [info] New Amsterdam Singers, directed and conducted by Clara Longstreth, gives the world premiere of ‘I Go Among Trees’ for SATB choir and marimba, with texts by Wendell Berry, May Sarton, and John Freeman. Special guest, Makoto Nakura, marimba. April 17 American Modern Ensemble @ Weill Hall, Carnegie Hall [info] Composer Robert Paterson’s 50th birthday and “The Four Seasons” release celebration. May 6 A Nation of Others & Whitman’s America @ Carnegie Hall [info] Kent Tritle conducts the 200-voice Oratorio Society of New York in a two- part program that salutes our legacy and diversity. The first part will feature the world premiere of ‘A Nation of Others,’ a new work by Paul Moravec and Mark Campbell. In part two, ‘Whitman’s America,’ a setting of ‘Leaves of Grass’ by Robert Paterson, will be presented. Special guest soloists include Jennifer Zetlan, Maeve Höglund, Raehann Bryce-Davis, Isaiah Bell, Steven Eddy, and Joseph Beutel. Celebrate the Composer THREE SHOWS AT CARNEGIE HALL Thursday, March 5 Friday, April 17 Wednesday, May 6 7:30 PM 8:00 PM 8:00 PM Indianapolis Robert Paterson Oratorio Society of New York String Quartet The Four Seasons Kent Tritle, Conductor 50th Birthday Celebration & CD Release Robert Paterson THE FOUR SEASONS Release Date: April 24, 2020 American Modern Recordings American Modern Ensemble Marnie Breckenridge, soprano Blythe Gaissert, mezzo-soprano Alok Kumar, tenor David Neal, bass-baritone TRACKS DISC 1 SUMMER SONGS 1. I. Summer Music (May Sarton) [3:58] 2. II. The Kite (Anne Sexton) [4:56] 3. III. Childhood (Sharon Strange) [4:44] 4. IV. Moths (Jennifer O’Grady) [4:39] 5. V. Summer Night, Riverside (Sara Teasdale) [5:19] AUTUMN SONGS 6. I. Ascension: Autumn Dusk in Central Park (Evelyn Scott) [4:16] 7. II. Under the Harvest Moon (Carl Sandburg) [3:25] 8. III. All Hallows’ Eve (Dorothea Tanning) [2:10] 9. IV. November for Beginners (Rita Dove) [4:45] 10. V. Leaves Before The Wind (May Sarton) [4:33] DISC 2 WINTER SONGS 1. I. Icicles filled the long window (Wallace Stevens) [2:37] 2. II. Dark Day, Warm and Windy (A. R. Ammons) [3:22] 3. III. The Snow Man (Wallace Stevens) [4:11] 4. IV. Boy at the Window (Richard Wilbur) [4:07] 5. V. Old Story (Robert Creeley) [2:56] 6. VI. Neither Snow (Billy Collins) [3:28] SPRING SONGS 7. I. English Sparrows (Washington Square) (Edna St. Vincent Millay) [3:32] 8. II. April 5, 1974 (Richard Wilbur) [3:24] 9. III. Done With (Ann Stanford) [5:20] 10. IV. The Widow’s Lament in Springtime (William Carlos Williams) [4:54] 11. V. Spring Rain (Sara Teasdale) [3:30] ROBERT PATERSON A ‘modern day master’ and often the ‘highlight of the program’ (New York Times), Robert Paterson’s music is loved for its elegance, wit, structural integrity, and a wonderful sense of color. Paterson was named The Composer of The Year from the Classical Recording Foundation with a performance at Carnegie’s Weill Hall in 2011. His music has been on the Grammy ballot yearly, and his works were named ‘Best Music of 2012’ on National Public Radio. His works have been played by the Louisville Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, Austin Symphony, Vermont Symphony, BargeMusic, the Albany Symphony Dogs of Desire, among others. Paterson’s choral works were recorded by Musica Sacra and maestro Kent Tritle, with a world premiere performance at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City in 2015. Season highlights included The Nashville Opera world premiere of THREE WAY in January, 2017 and then Nashville performed the opera at BAM in Brooklyn, June, 2017. The New York Premiere of his opera, The Whole Truth with a libretto by Mark Campbell, sold out in January 2016, at Dixon Place in New York City. Other premieres & commissions include Shine for the American Brass Quintet, Moon Music for the Claremont Trio, and Graffiti Canons for the Volti Choir of San Francisco. Notable awards include winner of the Utah Arts Festival, the Copland Award, ASCAP Young Composer Awards, a three year Music Alive! grant from the League of American Orchestras and New Music USA, and yearly ASCAP awards. Fellowships include Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, and the Aspen Music Festival. Paterson holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music (BM), Indiana University (MM), and Cornell University (DMA). Paterson gives master classes at colleges and universities, most recently at the Curtis Institute of Music, New York University, and the Cleveland Institute of Music. Paterson is the Artistic Director of the American Modern Ensemble and resides in NYC with his wife Victoria, and their son, Dylan. AMERICAN MODERN ENSEMBLE American Modern Ensemble (AME) spotlights contemporary music via lively thematic programming. AME performs a wide repertoire, using a varied combination of instrumentalists, vocalists, and conductors, and the ensemble often highlights AME’s house composer and co-founder, Co-Founders, Victoria & Robert Paterson Robert Paterson. Since its inception, AME has performed over 250 works by living composers, and has received critical success in the New York Times, Time Out, the New Yorker, among others. Sold out crowds at BAM, Merkin Hall, Lincoln Center, the Rubin Museum, Dixon Place, and National Sawdust are a winning testament to AME’s 14 year-track record as to what is ‘right’ about classical music today. AME includes on-stage chats with composers and the creative team, allowing audience members to learn even more about the creative process. AME provides a welcoming environment for audience, creators and performers. Over 95% of the composers we program participate and attend our shows, including luminaries such as John Luther Adams, John Corigliano, David Del Tredici, Aaron Jay Kernis, Libby Larsen, Steven Mackey, Paul Moravec, Christopher Rouse, Steven Stucky, Joan Tower, Chen Yi, and countless others. AME also enthusiastically performs works by America’s most talented, emerging and mid-career composers. AME produces stellar recordings via its house label, American Modern Recordings (AMR), which has received fantastic reviews in Gramophone, the LA Music Examiner, The New York Times, Sequenza21, and New Music Box, and all our albums have made it to the Grammy Ballot for the past four seasons. AME’s summer home is now at the Mostly Modern Festival, located in Saratoga Springs, New York. This festival celebrates the music of our time. It is educational, with robust outreach initiatives. Other residencies include Princeton University, James Madison University, Keene State College, the CUNY Graduate Center, Adelphi, Rutgers, and many more. AME is deeply invested in collaboration. Some examples are On Site Opera, Cutting Edge New Music Festival, Prototype Opera Festival, American Opera Projects, the Dance Theater of Harlem, and the Mazzini Dance Collective. AME has an ongoing In-Situ partnership with National Sawdust, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where we perform annually to sold-out crowds * * * MARNIE BRECKENRIDGE / SOPRANO American American soprano Marnie Breckenridge is captivating international audiences with roles ranging from the Baroque and bel canto to Modern. Her passionate interpretations of contemporary works include: Mother in Dog Days by David T. Little where the New York Times praised Breckenridge’s “lovely soprano” and Time Out Magazine voted it Best Opera 2012 (premier-Montclair Peak Performances, Los Angeles Opera 2015, Prototype Festival 2016, Ft.